Data: Homicides still ahead of 2007 pace

The number of homicides in Chicago remains up, with an increase of almost 17 percent through November compared with last year, according to preliminary data released today by Chicago police.

As of today, Chicago had 487 murders, compared with 421 by the same date in 2007, police said.

With violent crime on the rise, police are focusing on street gangs, launching a new platoon of its Mobile Strike Force tonight, police said. The unit, which was first launched at the end of October, responds to high crime areas and works with the department's gang and organized crime units.

"Our top priority is to target the gangs and dismantle their criminal enterprises so they can no longer spread violence," Supt. Jody Weis said in a statement.

Weis created the Mobile Strike Force after he changed the mission of the Targeted Response Unit, or TRU, which was created by former Supt. Philip J. Cline to respond to crime "hot spots" to quell further violence. Weis ordered TRU to focus more on going after gangs and working up gang "intelligence" after seeing a drop in such work with the disbanding of the scandal-plagued Special Operations Section.

The new Mobile Strike Force has made 200 arrests, almost half of them known gang members, and seized 26 guns since late October, police said. Neighborhoods where the force has been deployed, including the Calumet and Gresham Districts, have seen decreases in murders, police said.

Overall, violent crime is up 2.6 percent through November over the same period last year, while property crime has risen almost 3 percent, police said.